Beck BeeGees + DC5

Working through the Bs: Jeff Beck: Truth; BeeGees: spread on 3 mp3 collections: Best of 1; Odessa; Best of 2 along with complete Dave Clark Five; & Best of The Seekers, Freddie & The Dreamers. A slew of British pop.

after the storm

The Jeff Beck (not be confused with Beck) is a stand alone I picked up cheap at H&M (I think) back in 2007. I was never a fan back in the day but do have Yardbirds on the shelf too. I also have his great jazz-rock recordings (more about them when I get to him on the jazz shelf). Truth is highly regarded & is interesting with a slew of bonus tracks.

The BeeGees have never been critics’ darlings. Too pop popular for Beck fans – but I was a radio fan, so those early hits are still sweet: I Started A Joke – vulnerable and emotive . Odessa the double lp goes from elegant to overwrought from track to track but I’ve always been happy to hear it when it came up in rotation. The Hits 2 – disco takes over but in retrospect their Night Music will survive.

hippie vans rule

Freddie & the Dreamers are bouncy catchy pop of the 60’s. The Seekers had a few North American hits – more folk-rock than pop with sweet polished harmonies.

The Dave Clark Five is a huge box set of everything & out-takes etc. I was a fan. Even my mother liked them. Musically they were catchy pop with a tinge of soul thanks to having a sax player as member. Catch US If You Can is probably my favourite track by them. They were one of the Brit bands that resisted the psychedelic wave or prog rock and sank from the horizon in the mid-70’s.

Part of a chair sailed over my head followed by something metal. I wanted to look but Steve propelled me farther along the row of cars.

‘Just keep your head down.’

Something landed on the car we just passed. The car shook a moment and then erupted. Thick black smoke poured around us.

‘We can head that way.’ Smoke stinging my eyes I pointed through the park behind us. ‘The smoke should give us some cover.’

A handful of others had the same idea. They got about 20 feet into the park when gun fire rattled. Two of them dropped.

‘Someone’s up there.’ Steve nodded to the building at the far end of the park. ‘Snipers.’

‘Shit.’

The crowd on the other side of the cars began to disperse in different directions.

‘Should we follow any them?’

‘No,’ Steve took a deep breath.

We head more gun fire, screams, sirens.

‘We can’t just sit here though, can we.’ I knew we had to keep moving ‘The Militia will arrest us.’

‘No. If that was the case I’d turn myself in now but no one’s getting out of here unscathed. These guys aren’t out to suppress. They are out to destroy.’

‘Look!’ I pointed to a manhole cover.

‘Down the sewers here? Please. No, we need a plan.’

‘I thought we had a plan.’

‘Well, sorry, but this riot wasn’t a part of the plan.’

‘You wanted an exciting get away and you got it.’

‘This isn’t the time or …’

The car we were hunched behind began to rock and turn over toward us. We jumped up and moved back to the shop behind us. An armoured tank was rolling over the car. It’s cannon turret rotated toward us.

‘Oh hell.’

We backed against the window of the shop and inched along to the door way. The door was locked. A narrow red light came from the top of the cockpit.